CANBERRA: An unprecedented number of young Armenian-Australians will spend the next two days in the nation's capital, Canberra, as part of the fourth annual Armenian National Committee of Australia's (ANC-AU) Youth Advocates Program.
The university-aged youth, made up of Armenian-Australians from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, will be based in the heart of Australian politics to learn and practice the craft of political debate and advocacy through meetings with political, media and thought leaders.
Once again, the 2022 Youth Advocates Program is being supported by the ANC-AU Internship Program's Hagop Kortian Scholarship. While the Scholarship is to help facilitate the placement of Armenian-Australian students into political and other offices of influence, the Kortian family has dedicated part of their 2022 commitment of $10,000 to ensure the ANC-AU Youth Advocates Program is accessible to as many youth as possible, some of whom may be future applicants to the Scholarship.
ANC-AU National Board member and former Executive Director, Haig Kayserian, Ronit Gabriel of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) will join international guest of honour, Dr Arman Tatoyan––Armenia’s former Human Rights Defender––in taking the group through advocacy training and sharing their experiences.
The delegation, which numbers at around 30 in total, will then have the opportunity to learn the role of media and the Federal Parliament Press Gallery from James Massola, the National Affairs Editor of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald publications.
Following this, there will be a Youth Advocates Debate hosted by Member for Bennelong and Co-Chair of the Australia-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Union (Friendship Group), Jerome Laxale MP and Member for Brisbane, Stephen Bates MP to discuss important topics in the nation’s agenda.
The ANC-AU Youth Advocates will then be attending Question Time and, afterwards, will be split into smaller groups to practice their advocacy skills by presenting the rights to self-determination of the endangered indigenous Armenians of the Republic of Artsakh, whose lands are currently occupied by the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan.
They will meet Members of Parliament, including Steve Georganas MP, Peter Khalil MP, Senator Patrick Dodson, Sophie Scamps MP, Senator David Shoebridge, Angie Bell MP, Senator Deborah O'Neill, Rebehka Sharkie MP, Kylea Tink MP and Stephen Bates MP.
The ANC-AU Youth Advocates will also hear from Zack Drury, Adviser Strategic Communications & Outreach for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who will take them through a day in the life of a staffer for the Prime Minister of Australia.
The long day of advocacy will conclude for the unprecedented number of young Armenian-Australians with the launch of the Australia-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Union (Friendship Group), which will be hosted in Parliament House and will feature several political, diplomatic, cultural, religious and academic figures.
The second day will feature the ANC-AU Youth Advocates being hosted by the Leader of the Opposition and Former Minister for Defence, the Hon. Peter Dutton in a meet and greet.
The Youth Advocates will then depart for the National Press Club, where they will witness a presentation and Q & A from Julie Hare, the Education Editor at the Australian Financial Review and Executive Director Bryce Wakefield and National Operations Manager Nancy Schneider of the Australian Institute International Affairs (AIIA). In these meetings, the participants will learn about the role of the media and think tanks in Canberra.
"After a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ANC-AU Youth Advocates is back bigger and better than ever. We are so proud of the unprecedented number of young Armenian-Australians who have taken time from their busy schedules to attend a program which is more important now more than ever, with the Armenian homeland facing existential threats," explained ANC-AU Executive Director, Michael Kolokossian.
"This year’s program will be highly engaging and will be a great way to inform and motivate some of the budging political thinkers from our community by providing first-hand insight into the inner workings of life in the hallways of Parliament.”
"We sincerely appreciate the Kortian family’s generosity who have once again agreed to support this year’s program in memory of their late husband and father, Mr. Hagop Kortian, who was a founding force of Hai Tad in Australia," Kolokossian added.
